An Evaluation of the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory in an Australian Community Corrections Environment

Abstract

Risk assessments are crucial in aiding criminal justice practitioners because they provide a standardized instrument that aims to identify risk factors that may influence whether an individual will reoffend. This helps to tailor an offender's case-management program to ensure offenders are accessing the appropriate services and interventions and to keep the community safe from future reoffending. The aim of the current study was to investigate the validity and predictive utility of the LS/CMI in a sample of Australian offenders. The results indicate that the LS/CMI has a weak discriminative ability for non-Indigenous males. However, it predicts recidivism in non-Indigenous female offenders at an accuracy level no greater than chance. This finding should be interpreted with caution due to the small female offender sample size. These findings for non-Indigenous offenders are consistent with previous Australian and international research. It also highlights the importance of validating risk assessments for specific populations.